The Real Nature of Man

[Guest guest]

We are not individuals yet. We are struggling towards individuality,

and that is the Infinite, that is the real nature of man. He alone

lives whose life is in the whole universe, and the more we

concentrate our lives on limited things, the faster we go towards

death. Those moments alone we live when our lives are in the

universe, in others; and living this little life is death, simply

death, and that is why the fear of death comes. The fear of death can

only be conquered when man realises that so long as there is one life

in this universe, he is living. When he can say, " I am in everything,

in everybody, I am in all lives, I am the universe, " then alone comes

the state of fearlessness. To talk of immortality in constantly

changing things is absurd. Says an old Sanskrit philosopher: It is

only the Spirit that is the individual, because it is infinite. No

infinity can be divided; infinity cannot be broken into pieces. It is

the same one, undivided unit for ever, and this is the individual

man, the Real Man. The apparent man is merely a struggle to express,

to manifest this individuality which is beyond; and evolution is not

in the Spirit. These changes which are going on--the wicked becoming

good, the animal becoming man, take them in whatever way you like--

are not in the Spirit. They are the evolution of nature and

manifestation of Spirit. Suppose there is a screen hiding you from

me, in which there is a small hole through which I can see some of

the faces before me, just a few faces. Now suppose the hole begins to

grow larger and larger, and as it does so, more and more of the scene

before me reveals itself and when at last the whole screen has

disappeared, I stand face to face with you all. You did not change at

all in this case; it was the hole that was evolving, and you were

gradually manifesting yourselves. So it is with the Spirit. No

perfection is going to be attained. You are already free and perfect.

What are these ideas of religion and God and searching for the

hereafter? Why does man look for a God? Why does man, in every

nation, in every state of society, want a perfect ideal somewhere,

either in man, in God, or elsewhere? Because that idea is within you.

It was your own heart beating and you did not know; you were

mistaking it for something external. It is the God within your own

self that is propelling you to seek for Him, to realise Him. After

long searches here and there, in temples and in churches, in earths

and in heavens, at last you come back, completing the circle from

where you started, to your own soul and find that He for whom you

have been seeking all over the world, for whom you have been weeping

and praying in churches and temples, on whom you were looking as the

mystery of all mysteries shrouded in the clouds, is nearest of the

near, is your own Self, the reality of your life, body, and soul.

That is your own nature. Assert it, manifest it. Not to become pure,

you are pure already. You are not to be perfect, you are that

already. Nature is like that screen which is hiding the reality

beyond. Every good thought that you think or act upon is simply

tearing the veil, as it were; and the purity, the Infinity, the God

behind, manifests Itself more and more.

 

This is the whole history of man. Finer and finer becomes the veil,

more and more of the light behind shines forth, for it is its nature

to shine. It cannot be known; in vain we try to know it. Were it

knowable, it would not be what it is, for it is the eternal subject.

Knowledge is a limitation, knowledge is objectifying. He is the

eternal subject of everything, the eternal witness in this universe,

your own Self. Knowledge is, as it were, a lower step, a

degeneration. We are that eternal subject already; how can we know

it? It is the real nature of every man, and he is struggling to

express it in various ways; otherwise, why are there so many ethical

codes? Where is the explanation of all ethics? One idea stands out as

the centre of all ethical systems, expressed in various forms,

namely, doing good to others. The guiding motive of mankind should be

charity towards men, charity towards all animals. But these are all

various expressions of that eternal truth that, " I am the universe;

this universe is one. " Or else, where is the reason? Why should I do

good to my fellowmen? Why should I do good to others? What compels

me? It is sympathy, the feeling of sameness everywhere. The hardest

hearts feel sympathy for beings sometimes. Even the man who gets

frightened if he is told that this assumed individuality is really a

delusion, that it is ignoble to try to cling to this apparent

individuality, that very man will tell you that extreme self-

abnegation is the centre of all morality. And what is perfect self-

abnegation? It means the abnegation of this apparent self, the

abnegation of all selfishness. This idea of " me and mine " --Ahamkâra

and Mamatâ--is the result of past superstition, and the more this

present self passes away, the more the real Self becomes manifest.

This is true self-abnegation, the centre, the basis, the gist of all

moral teaching; and whether man knows it or not, the whole world is

slowly going towards it, practising it more or less. Only, the vast

majority of mankind are doing it unconsciously. Let them do it

consciously. Let them make the sacrifice, knowing that this " me and

mine " is not the real Self, but only a limitation. But one glimpse of

that infinite reality which is behind--but one spark of that infinite

fire that is the All--represents the present man; the Infinite is his

true nature.

 

- Swami Vivekananda

 

.... to be continued